The buzz this morning, of course, is about the Adam Eaton trade. So, what better time to look back at his 2005 season? Eaton and Woody Williams review below, trade analysis and discussion here, add yourself to Frappr! here. Okay, ready?

[Previous entries in this series: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | LF | CF | RF | SP (1) ]

Woody Williams

Expectations

From my season preview over at Baseball Think Factory:

Williams essentially replaces David Wells as the veteran presence to help guide the young pitchers on the staff. His numbers last year were down from the past few seasons, but they weren’t too far off his career line and don’t represent much of a drop from what Wells did last year.

Positives

• Provided veteran leadership.

Negatives

• Regressed pretty much across the board despite coming to a much more favorable pitching environment; the dramatic increase in home run rate was particularly alarming.
• At age 39, he isn’t likely to reverse the above trends.
• On the books for one more year.

Outlook

If the Padres are lucky, Williams won’t slip any further and can at least eat some innings and keep the club in games. But 2005 was the worst of his career, and at his age, this may well be the beginning of the end. Barring a trade, Williams will be in the rotation again next year. Much as it pains me to say this, because he’s a fave of mine, it would be unreasonable to expect much in the way of actual production.

Adam Eaton

Expectations

From my season preview over at Baseball Think Factory:

The big tease. No Padres pitcher has a greater disparity between ability and results. Eaton’s repertoire is outstanding and he’s fully recovered from 2002 Tommy John surgery, so what’s the problem? In a nutshell, consistency. Eaton will cruise along for several innings during a game and then start leaving hittable pitches out over the plate for no apparent reason. Pitching coach Darren Balsley is working with Eaton this spring to shorten his stride and tighten his breaking ball. The hope is that smoother mechanics will help improve his command and also reduce the chances of further injury. Eaton’s stuff is top shelf ― easily as good as Peavy’s ― but so far he hasn’t been able to turn it into anything more than average results. Eaton is young, intelligent, and coachable so there’s still breakout potential here.

Positives

• Terrific first half, going 9-2 with a 3.42 ERA before the All-Star break.
• Reduced homer rate appreciably from previous season.

Negatives

• Inconsistent from start to start, and also within a start. Again.
• Couldn’t stay healthy. Again.
• ERA over 4.00, ERA+ below 100. Again. He’s never had an ERA under 4.00, and the only time he ever had an ERA+ over 100 came in his rookie season of 2000, over 135 innings.

Outlook

The Padres have traded Eaton to the Texas Rangers. Eaton lives high in the strike zone and despite improvements last year has been susceptible to the gopher ball throughout his career. He continues to have the talent to be a frontline starter, but injuries and inconsistency have kept that from happening. Moving from Petco Park, a pitchers’ haven, to the Ballpark in Arlington, one of the toughest pitching environments in all of baseball, hardly seems like a catalyst for the breakout we’ve all been waiting for. Eaton turned 28 in November, so there’s still plenty of time for him to step up his game a notch or two. But it may not come in 2006, in that ballpark.